Happy new year

Had a great first day of 2012. Dave and I saw my cousin-in-law preach, it was great. I always enjoy listening to one of his sermons.  It is like a church comedy club. He is hilarious.  He and my cousin now live in Texas.  I wish I could see them more often :(.  He dropped some pretty heavy hints to me and Dave.  He said he could do a 3 minute wedding lol.  I hope it did not scare Dave too much.  All in all it was a great day with the family, a tasty lunch and a productive Target shopping trip.

It was nice to cook with Dave again.  We made "brinner".  I also had the bright idea to do an apartment improvement project by hanging my new fruit basket.  That did not go so well, now i have 3 holes to spackle.  Oh well, first world problems right?

Hope everyone else had a happy start to 2012!!

Still no sign of my new Visa

:(

An attempt at Christmas Decorating

The tiny tree in all its glory.

The few presents I've purchased and wrapped.

So here are the meager bell8cious Christmas decorations for 2011. The beau and myself went to our local purveyor for keepsake ornaments to pick out three ornaments for our tree. One ornament for each Christmas we've been together

This ornament represents our mutual love of cooking together.

.

The beau picked this one out because we both love to play in the snow. Our first snow together was in January of 2010. We walked almost a mile to find a restaurant open that day so we could grab some grub. We made snow angels along the way and pelted each other with snow. I need to get those pictures from him.

I love this movie. The beau replaced my old copy of GWTW with a new copy. He wrote a sweet message inside.

Where oh where has my debit card gone?

Which is worse?

Losing your debit card during the holiday shopping season OR losing your debit card on vacation?

How about both?

yep! lost my debit card sometime Sunday while I was travelling about eastern NC.  I turned my purse inside out, my car upside down, and had various family members scouring their yards monday morning.  No dice!  I had to report it missing Monday.

Thankfully it seems to be missing rather than stolen.

The worst part is..........it takes 7-10 days for a replacement to come in.  Who takes checks these days?

Thankfully Target does.  So I got a lovely prepaid Visa for emergencies this week.

Tomorrow night I can go back and buy some Christmas ornaments yay!

Maybe I should rename this blog misadventures of a bad southern belle....

my new quilt

Snapshots of the lovely quilt 3 generations of Howell women quilted. My grandfather's mom did the squares decades ago. My mom showed them to me years ago; asking me to pick the pattern i liked. I chose this one. Years go by and I never thought of them again til Sunday. Mom had me open my Christmas present at the Howell family Christmas dinner. My grandfathers remaining sisters and my sencond cousin Brenda quilted it in about four hours one day a few weeks ago.

Brenda said that "education occurs around the quilt." She has aquired a wealth of knowledge around the quilting circle. I am kind of sad i've missed out on the opportunity. Especially sad since I know my aunt's Iva and Margie have been unwell lately. Iva just celebrated her 90th birthday!! She still lives alone and is very independent. I am pretty sure my mouth comes from both her and my grandma Patty.

Now to find a way to display this new heirloom without the kitties destroying it. I am thinking of hanging it on the wall like a tapestry.

What do you all think.

Gadgets!

Many who know me know that I love gadgets.  From kitchen to electronics I am convinced I must have them all.However, due to budgetary constraints, I usually have to wait a while to purchase them.  This actually works in my favor.  The developers have had plenty of time to work out the kinks in the design by the time I can afford to buy the pretty bauble.  My current list of most loved gadgets are in no particular order:  my cat genie litterbox, my two roombas, my ipod touch (since I could not get an iphone -- verizon customer here). 

Recently, a new toy entered the arsenal, one that may soon completely replace the beloved ipod.  My new moto droid phone!!!  I loooove it!  There was a steep learning curve associated with it that is for sure.  I give thanks to two of my techiest friends for helping me along my journey and for hooking me up with swype (Thanks M and E). 

Swype is the best little keyboard application ever.   It is no longer in beta testing, so you either need the "hookup" or wait patiently for the full release.  It comes preloaded on the Moto X I believe, so the full version may not be far behind for the rest of the android army. 

My ipod cannot be completely retired because my favorite nursing/medical app is not quite available in the android market.  I emailed the developers and I was very surprised and happy to receive a reply within hours!  Go medcalc!  Unfortunately, the development of the android app is not progressing very fast =(, so I must continue to carry my ipod in my pocket at work for a while longer.

ok, back to the toy, er, phone!  Last night I discovered a new app called keyring.  You use it to scan all of your grocery store,drugstore, etc customer cards.  Then you scan your phone at the store!!  No more cluttered key rings!  How awesome is that?  Make sure you choose the "rewards card" keyring app in the market.  The other keyring apps are for storing your CC number...and that's not gonna happen on my phone!

My lovely phone has replaced my "need" for a GPS system.  My little moto with Google Navigation easily guided me to and from the beach.  Not bad for a FREE App!! 

I think even my beau D is ready to buy an android phone now!!  He was very impressed with the GPS on my little moto.   I also think the urban spoon app will help end our dining slump.  We are getting a bit bored with some of our late night eating options in CH.

Well, I have rambled on enough.  Azreal is now demanding my undivided attention so I must say see you later.

ps...i should probably give props to lucas film inc and verizon for any use of the words droid or android n such...as i talked about my d*&*m phone.

An introduction to lil' ol' me

 I have been chewing on the idea of starting a new blog for the better part of a month now...


I just could not think of a good title for it!  So props to my buddy and coworker Drew for coining this blog's name.


I actually wrote this first post about 3 weeks ago...gee, I guess I am already behind!


So here goes:

I love blogs!! I love to pass the time reading them. I love the preppy blogs, beauty blogs, foodie blogs.  I have tried a few times to start one and in typical ADD fashion i give up on them....  So here goes nothin’.

As I start this new blog I find myself with a bit of writer’s block (no surprise here folks).  I do not have a clear vision of what this blog will be about.  It will probably be a hodge-podge of different things.  I figure this is a good easy way to introduce myself y’all.  
A – Age: 30
B – Bed size: full... a queen is on my wishlist.
C – Chore you hate: pretty much all of them
D – Dogs' name: no doggie...just two kitty furbabies named Azreal and Tuxedo
E – Essential start to your day item(s): my new DROID phone and breakfast, I'm miss cranky pants w/o food in my belly
F – Favorite color: navy, hunter green, scarlett red -- like my blog background!
G – Gold or Silver: white gold or platinum
H – Height: 5' 4
I – Instruments you play(ed): the radio
J – Job title: RN in a Neurological/Neurosurgical ICU
K – Kisses or hugs: I love both, but you can get away with hugging more people
L – Living arrangements: renting
M – Mood: swings, I'm seriously moody
N – Nicknames: noo noo, nikki, i have many identities
O – Overnight hospital stays other than birth: does spending 14 hours in the ED count?
P – Pet Peeves: being ignored, people who do not do what they say they will do, unkept promises
Q – Quote from a movie: “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” “ I will think about it tomorrow, after all, tomorrow is another day” -- I think Scarlett had ADD.
R – Right or left handed: right
S – Siblings: once upon a time i had a younger brother
T – Time you wake up: varies, I work 7p-7a so i'm all sorts of screwy in the sleep dept.
U- Underwear: reminds, me i need to buy some more...nope check that off the list. although VS no longer makes my favorite kind =(
V – Vegetable you dislike: beets and rutabegas
W – Ways you run late: i often cannot remember if i have locked the door or not, or i forget something.
X – X-rays you've had: my back, my neck, both ankles multiple times, left hand, chest, both knees, MRI of right knee, CT of sinuses. Ventilation/perfusion scan of lungs..........i pretty much glow in the dark!
Y – Yummy food you make: guacamole, scallops, brunswick stew( i am a total stew snob), my recent summer salad is my go-to cheap healthy recipe.......maybe i  will post it soon.
Z – Zoo favorite: howler monkeys and polar bears

I am probably the most disorganized Virgo you will ever encounter. 

My guilty pleasures are: romance novels, Grey’s Anatomy, Bojangles.

I love cute stationary......but I am a horrible correspondent.
I have the usual girly obsession with shoes.  I love them, i covet Loubutins, but if i actually had a pair i would never get to wear them because i wear a 7.5 NARROW width.  European shoes do not come in half sizes =(.  Nikki in stilletos that are too large = another broken/sprained ankle. le sigh.  

I like the idea of cute dresses and skirts, but rarely have the opportunity to wear them.  My go-to work outfit is a polo shirt and scrub pants.  I guess the polo shirt is kind of preppy right?
My Blackberry owns me and i cannot wait to upgrade to the droid.  I LOVE gadgets! I big pink puffy heart gadgets.

I also have an unhealthy obsession for bags.  I have more scout bags than i even remotely use and i have my eye on MORE of them.  I do hate vera bradley bags though, sorry vera fans.  I also do not understand the Holly Aiken obsession.  I totally covet prada bags tho.

My favorite season is fall, i might have been born in the flatlands, but i love me some mountains in the fall.  I love crunchy leaves!

I am very sarcastic.  I seem to be full of contradictions.  Much like my life......and totally like this blog.

I am a work in progress.....